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Friday, May 6, 2011

#19: Take a tour of the White House

After a wonderful week in Washington, D.C., we are home! I won't lie, it was hard to come home. I always have post-vacation blues and today was no exception. But nothing beats sleeping in your own bed.

Originally, I hoped to score some tickets to tour the White House to fulfill one of my 25 Before 25, {see sidebar} but my desires were thwarted. So I changed the goal to visit Washington, D.C.

I can do that. I'm the boss.

Washington, D.C. was all I could have hoped it would be. I loved it the entire time we were there.

Our trip started out with adventure. Our first plane was delayed two hours because a plane slid off the runway in Chicago (our layover city) and we would have missed our connecting flight. After waiting in line for 45 minutes at Southwest, we found a last minute cancellation that made room in a flight to Baltimore and they would pay for our shuttle.) It left in 20 minutes. We ran through security and thankfully made our flight. And so did our luggage.

Our shuttle rolled on in around 2 a.m. but that did not stop us from seeing the sights the next day. (Warning: lots of pictures ahead. This is my journal/scrapbook.)

Started the first day with visiting the White House. With the hoards of other tourists. Amid a sea of fanny packs and Tevas, I felt comfortable whipping out my enormous map when we were lost.

We were almost run over by a tour group on Segways.
I think they are dorky. Or maybe I am jealous I couldn't afford to ride one.
You decide.

Next, we stopped by the Renwick Art Gallery near the White House. This art gallery had a different feel compared to other galleries.

This is also a smaller gallery and bit off the beaten path. Well, not off the beaten path. It is right by the White House, but it is not on the Mall so it had a significantly smaller audience. Which means they treat their guests like royalty because they are happy to have visitors. Truly, they were wonderful. And it was small enough that I could get my art fill and Jacob wasn't bored out of his mind. Win, win.

I decided I must live here.
I think they are offices.
Perhaps I can convince them to let me set up a cot in the corner.

We trekked a few blocks up to see the National Geographic museum. The photography exhibit was wonderful. And free.

Then we saw a motorcade peel down the street. We followed them like any good tourist would do, but we never saw anyone fancy get out. The row of SUV's made a big ruckus getting to a hotel and just sat there. I did see a sign in one of the Escalade's that said the Embassy of Panama. So I am telling myself the President of Panama was in there.

We topped off the day with a late lunch at Potbelly's and called it a day. We were pooped and we had not even made a dent in our to-do list.